Film notcher and cutter

ABSTRACT

A film notcher and cutter for a roll of film carrying pairs of stereo images in which fiducial marks of a triangular nature are provided one for each image, the base of the triangle being perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the image and at the center of the frame, the notcher and cutter providing a notcher punch arranged on a centerline slightly offset from the base line of the triangle, with a cutter bar being arranged to sever each frame from the strip at a predetermined distance from the notcher punch centerline, and the film surface of the device being provided with a pair of windows separated by a bar the width of the offset distance of the triangle base line and the notcher punch centerline.

United States Patent 1191 Bernier Nov. 13, 1973 1 1 FILM NOTCHER ANDCUTTER [75] Inventor: Robert V. Bernier, Saugus, Calif.

221 Filed: Jan. 19, 1972 211 Appl.No.: 219,024

Decker 83/520 X Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz Assistant Examiner-W.D. Bray Attorney-Milton E. Gilbert [57] ABSTRACT A film notcher andcutter for a roll of film carrying pairs of stereo images in whichfiducial marks of a triangular nature are provided one for each image,the base of the triangle being perpendicular to the longitudinaldirection of the image and at the center of the frame, the notcher andcutter providing a notcher punch arranged on a centerline slightlyoffset from the base line of the triangle, with a cutter bar beingarranged to sever each frame from the strip at a predetermined distancefrom the notcher punch centerline, and the film surface of the devicebeing provided with a pair of windows separated by a bar the width ofthe offset distance of the triangle base line and the notcher punchcenterline.

9 Claims, Drawing Figures PATENTED NOV 1 3 1975 SHEET 2 OF FILM NOTCHERAND CUTTER BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Stereo image frame pairs havegenerally been prepared in much the same way as individual mono images,to be held in a flat planar relationship in a viewer, although in sideby side relationship. No notcher and cutter means are known whichspecially prepares a pair of stereo image frames for mounting and beingheld in a cylindrical plane by means of a specially formed mask.

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the film notcher and cutter ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, taken along line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the film notcher and cutter, showing thepreparation of the left frame of a stereo image pair;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the film notcher and cutter, showing thepreparation of the right frame of a stereo image pair;

FIG. 8 is a view of a roll of exposed and developed film prior toinsertion into the film notcher and cutter; and

FIG. 9 is a view of the left frame of a stereo image pair after havingbeen prepared by the film notcher and cutter of the invention formounting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The film notcher and cutter isgenerally shown in FIG. 1, and comprises a box-like housing 1,preferably open at the bottom, and with relatively thick walls. Thehousing can be provided with a series of feet in the form of rubbergrommets 2, 3, 5 and 7. The front wall 4 of the housing 1 is providedwith an elongated slot 6 through which a lever 8 projects. Mounted tothe lever 8 is a knob, tab, or key element 10, which is appropriatelyfastened as by the screw 12. The slot 6 has an offset wider notched area13 which serves as a means for retaining the lever 8 in the downwardposition.

The housing 1 is provided with an upper deck or plate 14, which can beappropriately fastened to the housing and serves as a surface upon whichthe film can be placed for the notching and cutting operations performed by the device of the invention.

Mounted at the right side of the device is a cutting knife or lever 16which is provided with a handle by means of a bent-over portion 18. Thelower edge of the lever 16 is tapered or ground into the cutting edge 20as shown in FIG. 3. The lever 16 is mounted to the plate 14 by means ofthe mounting screw 22 which is threaded thereinto. A spring 24 serves tourge the lever 16 against the side of the plate 14 constantly. The rightside of the plate 14 is provided with a cutting plate 30, having acutting edge 32 to cooperate with the cutting edge 20 of the lever 16.The cutting plate 30 is held in assembly to the plate 14 by means offasteners 28.

Mounted at the left side of the plate 14 is a guide bracket 40, which isprovided with a window opening 44 through which a film strip can bepassed. The bracket is held to the plate by the fasteners 42 (see FIG.4) and is formed with an upper guide portion 46 which prevents the rollof film from curling up over the work surface, since it has a tendencyto roll up.

Formed into the upper rear surface of the plate 14 is a groove 48, asshown in FIG. 3, into which a shaft 50 is placed. The shaft 50 is heldin place by a series of collars such as 52 and 56, which together withthe block 54 serve to journal the shaft. As is described more fullyhereinafter, the lever 8 serves to rotate the shaft 50 as thusassembled.

Joumalled upon the shaft 50, and located between the two blocks 54 and56 is a notcher blade 60. The blade 60 is held in position to the shaftby the set screw 62. The blade 60 is further formed with a notch cuttingportion 64 as shown in FIG. 2. The notch cutting portion cooperates witha die plate 70, which in turn is fastened, as by the screws 72, 74 tothe plate 14. The portion 76 of the die plate cooperates with theportion 64 as a punch and die set.

The die plate 70 is formed with two window openings 78 and 80 to permitviewing and alignment of the film strip. A glass element such as theopal glass block 82 is held against the shoulder 84 in the plate 14 whenthe plate 70 is fastened thereto. To prevent cracking of the glass itmay be tapered around the edges. The two window openings in the dieplate are formed by the central bar 86 which is aligned centrally withthe notcher blade 60.

Mounted on the blocks 54 and 56 is a hold down plate 90, provided at itsinner edge with a bent up tab or handle 92. The plate 90 is also bent upas at 94 and 96 along a line to form two cars 98 and 100, so that themajor portion of the plate 90 lies flat against the plate 14. Each earis formed with inwardly projecting tangs, the tang 102 being formed oncar 98, and the tang 104 being formed on the ear 100. The blocks 54 and56 are assembled so that the pivot holes 106 and 108, respectively (seeFIG. 3), receive the tangs 102 and 104, respectively. In this manner theplate 90 can be freely rotated after assembly.

Protruding from the upper surface of plate 14 are a series of locatingand guiding pins 112, 114, 116 and 1 18. The plate 90 is formed with ahole 1 10 and a notch 120 to provide clearance for the pins 112 and 114,respectively. These guide pins serve to locate the film strip asdiscussed hereinafter.

As indicated above, the bottom of the housing 1 is open and there isthus formed a chamber below the plate 14. Within this chamber 130 thereis mounted the lever 8 which, as indicated previously, passes throughthe slot 6 in the front wall 4. The lever 8 is spring loaded to normallyurge the lever 8 into the upper position as shown in FIG. 2. For thispurpose a spring 132 is provided with a hooked end 134 to fit within theslots 136 or 137 or 139 (the latter being shown in FIG. 2 as receivingthe hooked end 134). The other end of the spring 132 is anchored by thescrew 138 to the underside of the plate 14. The spring is offset asshown more clearly in FIG. 4. The other end of the lever 8 is affixed toan arm 214 as by the screws 210 and 212. The arm 214 in turn is mountedon the shaft 50 and clamped thereto as by the setscrew 216.

Preferably the entire inner surface of the housing 1 is painted white soas to reflect light and to prevent the radiation from traveling up tothe film strip through the metal. Cooperating'with a source of light isa reflecting plate 140 which is mounted by a pair of screws 142 (onlyone being shown) and is juxtaposed to a light compartment 150 so thatthe light will be reflected up through the glass 82.

The back wall of the housing 1 has an opening 144 formed in it throughwhich light can project. The light source is found in the compartment150 and may be a simple low wattage bulb 160. The compartment is formedas shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 5. A curved cover plate 152,preferably of metal is fastened by a series of screws 166 to an endplate 161 to'close one end. Within the cover plate 152 is positioned abaffle or reflector plate 158 which is bent up into a tab 162 andfastened to the end plate 161 by a screw 164. The cover 152 is alsopreferably provided with a series of upper, 154, and lower, 156, ventopenings to dissipate the heat from the bulb 160. The the cover end ofthe cover plate 152 is provided with a notch 170 for retention to anL-shaped bracket 180 as by a screw 172. The bracket 180 is assembled tothe housing 1 by means of an interposed mounting plate 182 and felt pad186. The latter serves as a heat insulator to prevent the lamp housefrom transferring too much heat to the metal housing 1. The bracket 180is provided witha stepped portion 184 at the top and bottom to providefor a flush mounting of the cover plate 152, and to prevent the coverfrom cutting into the felt padding. The L-shaped bracket 180 is providedwith a window opening 188 to align with the opening 144 in the housing 1through a similar opening in the felt pad 186. The base for the lampmember, or the bracket 180 is fastened in the position indicated by aseries of four screws, only three being shown at 190, 192 and 194. Asindicated in FIG. 5, the screw 190 is mounted within a heat insulatingbushing 196 where it passes through the bracket 180 and plate 182; andsimilarly the screw 192 is provided with the heat insulating bushing128. There is thus no metal contact between the lamp house and thenotching housing proper. The bulb 160 is mounted into a standardreceptacle 200 and provided with an electrical connection as indicatedin FIG; 1.

An alignment pin 202 serves to prevent the cover of the lamp house fromseparating from the housing 1 by engagement into a blind hole 204 in theend plate 161. A pair of stop pins 95 and 97 are provided on the outersurfaces of the blocks 54 and 56, respectively to retain the plate 90 ina position removed from the surface of the plate 14 and also to permiteasy access to move it back over the film.

The operation of the device will now be explained in connection with theremaining FIGS. 6 through 9. It is to be understood that the stereocamera with which the notcher and cutter of the invention is intendedfor use is one which takes a pair of stereo images, i.e., a left handand a right hand image. As shown in FIG. 8, a roll of film 230 mountedon the film spool 220 is developed with the right hand image 256 and theleft hand image 258 of a stereo image pair. The film is provided withthe upper 254, and lower 252, series of film sprocket holes. The stereocamera further is so designed with notches that serve to imprintfiducial marks on the film. These marks are triangular in nature and areshown as the mark 240 associated with the image 256, and the mark 250associated with the image 258.

'Each fiducial mark is arranged with the base of the triangleperpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the image and at thecenter of the frame. The hypotenuse of the triangle extends upward tothe left to indicate the left image 258, and extends upward to the rightto indicate the right image 256.

The hold down plate 90, the notcher blade 60 and the knife 16 are raisedin order to permit the passage of the film. The film 230 is unrolled andpassed through the opening 44 in the guide bracket 40, across the plate14 and past the cutting knife 16. In so moving the film it is placedbetween the guide pins 112, 114, 116 and 1 18.

With the light 160 plugged in, the film is adjusted so that the base ofthe fiducial mark 250 is aligned flush with the'right hand side of thebar 86. At this time the hold down plate is lowered to retain the filmstrip in position. Next, the notching blade 60 is activated and lockedinto lowered position by moving the lever 8 so that it becomes latcheddownwardly into the offset 13. When the lever 8 is so lowered the shaft50 is rocked and, since the notcher blade 60 is also affixed to thisshaft, it too is rotated to lower the notch cutting portion 64 into thefilm strip. As shown in FIG. 9, the activation of the cutter 64 resultsin a notch 260 being formed in the upper edge of the film. When thenotching blade 60 is lowered it not only cuts the notch 260 but whenheld in the lowered position serves to lock the film immovably inposition. When this is accomplished the lever 16 is lowered to cut offthe frame 258 into a frame strip. The cut will be made on the right edgeof the frame strip as viewed in FIG. 9 and an exact controllabledistance is held, between the centerline of the notch 262 and thecutting edge 32.

. Next, the right image 256 is arranged with the base of the fiducialmark positioned flush against the left hand side of the bar (see FIG. 7)86, the lever 8, plate 90 and knife 16 having been raised to permit suchpositioning. Again, the hold down plate is lowered and the lever 8 ismoved to activate the notcher blade to notch the film in the properposition. Following this the cutter bar 16 is lowered to cut off theframe 258 from the film roll. At this time the frame 258 is not yetready for mounting in a frame holder for viewing because of the factthat excess film margin remains to the left of frame 258 when it was cutoff from the roll with the notching blade 60 in locking position onframe 256.

Thus, although the right side of frame 258 was properly cut when notch260 was cut, the left side of frame 258 requires further trimming afterframe 258 is separated from the roll. In order to provide the exacttrimming necessary, when all the frames are notched and initially cut,they are again individually mounted in the cutter with the reverse sideof the image up and the notcher blade 60 is again lowered to assurelocking the film strip in the proper position. The cutter blade 16 isthen lowered to finally trim the frame. In this manner each edge of thefilm strip is exactly equally spaced from the centerline of the notch262.

As is clearly shown in FIG. 9, the centerline 262 of the notch 260 isoffset from the centerline 264 of the image. The purpose of the offsetbetween the centerline 262 of the notch 260 and the frame centerline orbase line 264. of the fiducial mark 250, shown as the distance 266 inFIG. 9, is to eliminate eyestrain and provide for proper viewing.Obviously, the displacement is equal to the width of the bar 86. Suchdisplacement is necessary in order to remove eyestrain which would becaused by any requirement to diverge the eyes. Since the left imagecenterline 264 of left frame 258 is displaced inwardly from the notchcenterline 264 of the cut film strip containing frame 258; andsimilarly, the right image centerline of the right frame 256 isdisplaced inwardly from the notch centerline of the cut film stripcontaining frame 256, it can be said that the pair of images, whenmounted in a film frame mount, will be inwardly displaced from the filmstrip centers. With the displacement of the images being inwardly, theresult is to force the eyes of a viewer to converge slightly tocompensate for any requirement to diverge the eyes when viewing objectsin the stereo scene.

What has been described is a preferred embodiment of the invention. Itis to be readily understood that various modifications and rearrangementand substitution of parts can be accomplished without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the opal glass may be etchedwith a thin line extending vertically or perpendicular to the film stripwhich is centered on the notch that is cut into the edge of the film.Thus, when the vertical edge of the fiducial mark is aligned with theetched line, the notch will be cut in the exact center of the image asrecorded in the camera. The central bar 86 can then be eliminated fromthe window opening in the die plate 70.

What I claim is:

l. A stereo film notcher and cutter comprising, in combination:

a housing member provided with an upper planar surface; means providedon said surface and by said housing for guiding and positioning a filmstrip thereon, said film strip having at least a pair of stereo imagesthereon;

means mounted on said housing for holding said film strip in apredetermined position; and

means mounted on said housing for cutting at least one notch in saidfilm strip at approximately the center of one of the images and locateda predetermined distance from one edge thereof.

2. A stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 1 wherein thereis further provided a film strip severing means located at the saidpredetermined distance from the notch cutting means.

3. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 1 wherein thenotch cutting means is so located that the centerline of a notch cut onsaid film strip is slightly offset from the centerline of an image onsaid film strip.

4. A stereo film notcher and cutter comprising, in combination:

a housing member provided with an upper planar surface;

said housing member having a die plate formed with a pair of windowopenings therein and a die portion;

means provided on said surface and by said housing for guiding andpositioning a film strip thereon; means mounted on said housing forholding said film strip in a predetermined position;

means mounted on said housing for cutting a notch in said film striplocated a predetermined distance from one edge thereof; and

said die portion being arranged to cooperate with the notch cuttingmeans in a punch and die relationship.

5. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 4 wherein arelatively narrow bar portion on said die plate separates the windowopenings, the center line of said bar portion being aligned coincidentwith the centerline of said die portion and with the centerline of saidnotch cutting means.

6. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 1 wherein thesaid last named means includes operating means which are so constructedand arranged as to provide a means for retaining said notch cuttingmeans in notch cutting position to lock a film strip in position uponsaid surface.

7. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 2 wherein thenotch cutting means is so located that the centerline of a notch cut onsaid film strip is slightly offset from the centerline of an image onsaid film strip.

8. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 3 wherein saidhousing is further provided with a die plate having a pair of windowopenings therein and a die portion arranged to cooperate with the notchcutting means in a punch and die relationship.

9. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 8 wherein thereis further provided a film strip severing means located at the saidpredetermined distance from the notch cutting means, and the notchcutting means includes operating means which are so constructed andarranged as to provide a means for retaining said notch cutting means innotch cutting position to lock a film strip in position upon saidsurface.

1. A stereo film notcher and cutter comprising, in combination: ahousing member provided with an upper planar surface; means provided onsaid surface and by said housing for guiding and positioning a filmstrip thereon, said film strip having at least a pair of stereo imagesthereon; means mounted on said housing for holding said film strip in apredetermined position; and means mounted on said housing for cutting atleast one notch in said film strip at approximately the center of one ofthe images and located a predetermined distance from one edge thereof.2. A stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 1 wherein thereis further provided a film strip severing means located at the saidpredetermined distance from the notch cutting means.
 3. The stereo filmnotcher and cutter according to claim 1 wherein the notch cutting meansis so located that the centerline of a notch cut on said film strip isslightly offset from the centerline of an image on said film strip.
 4. Astereo film notcher and cutter comprising, in combination: a housingmember provided with an upper planar surface; said housing member havinga die plate formed with a pair of window openings therein and a dieportion; means provided on said surface and by said housing for guidingand positioning a film strip thereon; means mounted on said housing forholding said film strip in a predetermined position; means mounted onsaid housing for cutting a notch in said film strip located apredetermined distance from one edge thereof; and said die portion beingarranged to cooperate with the notch cutting means in a punch and dierelationship.
 5. The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 4wherein a relatively narrow bar portion on said die plate separates thewindow openings, the center line of said bar portion being alignedcoincident with the centerline of said die portion and with thecenterline of said notch cutting means.
 6. The stereo film notcher andcutter according to claim 1 wherein the said last named means includesoperating means which are so constructed and arranged as to provide ameans for retaining said notch cutting means in notch cutting positionto lock a film strip in position upon said surface.
 7. The stereo filmnotcher and cutter according to claim 2 wherein the notch cutting meansis so located that the centerline of a notch cut on said film strip isslightly offset from the centerline of an image on said film strip. 8.The stereo film notcher and cutter according to claim 3 wherein saidhousing is further provided with a die plate having a pair of windowopenings therein and a die portion arranged to cooperate with the notchcutting means in a punch and die relationship.
 9. The stereo filmnotcher and cutter according to claim 8 wherein there is furtherprovided a film strip severing means located at the said predetermineddistance from the notch cutting means, and the notch cutting meansincludes operating means which are so constructed and arranged as toprovide a means for retaining said notch cutting means in notch cuttingposition to lock a film strip in position upon said surface.